JMJ. Imagine, if you will, that God has a plan. A plan which will accomplish the salvation of all mankind. I mean, He gives us free will and before the world is too much older we manage to give in to temptation and mess the whole program up. And like any loving parent He has to come along behind us and clean up our mess. Most anyone else would shake their head and say, "Duh, I'm just gonna start all over." Not God, oh no. He thinks we might have potential.
But His plan involves a woman; a girl, actually. She lives in this tiny jerkwater hinterland of the mighty Roman Empire. She's a little Jewish girl. One fine day a messenger from God (after all, that's what angels are) appears to her. He is so awesome that like every other instance of his appearances to humanity he has to preface everything by telling her not to fear him. And he's not just any angel--he's the Archangel Gabriel who stands perpetually before the face of God. He greets her with, "Hail, full of grace. The Lord is with thee."
Now that alone would make you wonder just how important this young woman is. But then he goes on to say that (with her concurrence) she will bear the Anointed One, the Redeemer of Israel. And on top of all that, the Holy Ghost is going to arrange for all this to happen in a way that it has never happened before--or since! Now fast-forward a couple weeks or so. Mary has been told by the angel that her kinswoman Elizabeth is also pregnant in a special way so Mary rushes to her aid. She walks in Elizabeth's door and greets her. Now, look carefully, Protestants. Under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, Elizabeth asks Mary how she, the Mother of the Lord, could deign to bless Elizabeth with Her presence. Not the unborn Lord's presence, mind you, but the Blessed Mother's!
I'll end this screed here and ask all you separated brethren, how can you still claim that Mary's only claim to fame is that She was the incubator for Jesus Christ? The Blessed Virgin Mary, alone of all the billions of women to live in time is able to accomplish one stupendous thing--She enables the Creator of the universe to become something that He never was before--a human being. And She's of little importance?
